Craig P

As mentioned, I’m still a rookie with Bass but I do enjoy figuring it out.

I’m addicted to jig fishing as well. Probably because I’ve always been a trout spin fisherman. It’s a quick method, gets reaction strikes and has a lot of casting that requires high accuracy. Simply put, it’s just fun and it’s satisfying when you know getting bit is heavily dependent on you making the cast.

My local lake receives a lot of pressure, with COVID, it is insane the amount of boats, kayakers, paddle boarders and even swimmers now. I’m not talking beach swimmers, I’m talking people who swim miles with balloons tied to their back so boaters see them. Not to mention the tandem swimmers who are swimming on something that looks like the ending scene of Jaws. Anyways.......I’m no bass expert. I’m only on my 3rd season of chasing them and the first season was just tinkering. BUT!! I tried something this past weekend and was rewarded with some impressive success. I remember watching videos about mid-late summer bass tactics and sizing down after bass have been pressured so I tried it and it worked. So, not to give out my secrets, lol, try downsizing your jig / baits on these busy waterways, you might find a little more success.

I’ll go against the grain on this one and it has nothing to do with fishing. You’ve just become one of those people on the internet trying to coerce someone into doing something differently based off of your personal beliefs. I don’t know the context of your message to the individual, you could have been as nice and respectful as the day is long ...... as well as I am trying to do the same but you did ask for a response, I assume the recipient of your message did not by your post.

Enjoyed your story. I’ll assume you are youngish and have never taken kids fishing. Parents end up being a lot like kids when they get older and just like kids, enjoy every second you get, time goes too fast.

Hate to admit it but I’ve been fishing much more than I use to. Staying away from others of course but I’ve had some banner days so far this year on saltwater striper, local trout streams and hoping to add more to my local lake bass pickings. I work for myself creating constructions drawings and my workload has decreased tremendously but I’m making lemonade out of lemons right now feeling fortunate that my wife and I have means to get through this. I do believe we had the virus in my home in late January. None of the 4 of us were hospitalized but the symptoms and time it took to get over it can’t be denied. Obviously there is no way to prove it until the antibodies tests become accessible but we are all still doing our part but there is an underlying relief, possibly false, that we are in the clear.

Before I bought my boat, I had a Hobie and I fished Raritan Bay in it for several years. Water temps right now are about 49-50 degrees. IMO, a dry suit is a MUST! Most people go by the 110 degree rule, air + water temp. If under 110, dry suit. I’ve flipped my kayak in 50 degree water while wearing guide pants and a waterproof top in my local river. I am in pretty good shape but that water took my breath away quickly! My PFD took the panic away but I was beat and not able to flip my kayak until I got to shallow water. My only course from there was to get back to the truck and get some dry clothes and get warm over the next few hours. After that incident, I bought a dry suit and practiced in 38 degree water. It is amazing how much they protect you. You can literally take a dunk, not die! and still fish the rest of the day as you’ll remain dry and warm. FWIW, the traffic on Raritan bay was insane yesterday with the amount of boats and kayaks. With this virus, more people have time so they’re going fishing. Ironic....in the worst time possible to be around people is also the reason there is more people. Another FWIW, the boaters hate the kayakers because they don’t use flags and can’t see them, especially when they’re not experienced and they go in front of their path as the boats are trolling. This leads to some mischievous boaters to purposely throw wakes at kayakers, not safe, especially in cold temps. To summarize, do everything you possibly can to protect yourself. It’s not about you, it’s about the lives you are going affect after you’re gone.

Welcome from another SE PA-er.

I fished with Mitch for a couple hours just to get into someone else’s mind if you will. I called upon him to help with offshore fishing and that was our focus. I learned a lot, mostly recognizing structures that just looked like graphing errors to me and a couple of good spots to boot. I highly recommend him. The PFBC has GPS locations for man made structures they’ve placed. Just do a search on the PFBC site. They’re not 100% accurate but if you put them in your FF and do a little searching, you’ll find them. I get frustrated with that lake easily because of all of the pleasure boaters. People will literally come within 15 feet of you just to see what you’re doing and god forbid they see you catch a fish, it’s turns into first day of trout fishing. The solution of course is to head to the no-wake...until someone blows by you because they do not know the rules or simply do not care. The lake also gets an extreme algae bloom in the summer. It negatively affects the fishing as oxygen gets lower so do keep that in mind.

We’ve had success there just pounding banks from the boat with Senkos. They don’t seem as finicky with colors as other local lakes. Make a good cast into a fishy looking spot and there’s a good chance you’ll be rewarded. Crankbaits in craw color seem to be a favorite by a lot of anglers there as well. You’ll quickly learn the place and if you have a good battery(ies) you’ll be rewarded the further you go. Plenty of carp, not of interest to me but if you like fishing for them, just look at google maps with satellite imagery, where you see green fields, you’ll find muddy bottom with carp. Where you see trees and rock, you’ll find bass. I have not fished for them in a long time there but at one time their were large schools of slab crappies. I remember 3 of us one day having a contest of who could get their jig in “without catching a crappie”. White perch there as well that like to hit brass spinners if you like to fish for them. It’s a decent fishery, just sucks that you have to quarantine and electric only but that’s also why it doesn’t get a lot of pressure and remains a decent fishery. Tight Lines!

In SE Pa this year I guess you could say the season never ended as the weather has been odd this year, it just got slow with some better than slow days in-between. I’ll be looking to go full swing in a couple of weeks as water temps increase.

Thank you for the info and wishes. The same to you. A heads up on the KoP one. I have a friend who is part of the management company there. He tells me that Dicks is not changing there. Hopefully see you around. I frequent Blue Marsh and Beltzville. I try to stick to weekdays as crowds are hard to escape in our area.

I previously though my local DSG (Conventry, Pa) was getting rid of their Fishing Department as it’s been in disarray but when I stopped by this weekend I noticed the fishing section had new stock of Keitechs. There were a couple guys stocking so I asked them about this. They assured me that they were not getting rid of the fishing department at this location. They did say some locations would be getting rid of that department. So it’s a YMMV situation. Glad to see my local one staying open for those last minute pickups.

All things aside, becoming an accurate caster was game changing. FWIW, before I became an “accurate caster” I wasn’t bad at casting, which I believe is the category most anglers fall into. Being able to see and confidently cast to a spot the size of a desert plate, under or through a tree or brush is invaluable and downright rewarding. Many years ago with a spinning rod I learned how to flip cast. I practiced in my garage or yard daily for months until I could land my lure in a small bucket every time while maintaining a low approach. I still practice off the water here and there, especially since I switched to baitcasters last year. I’m still not as good with a baitcaster as I am with a spin rod but I’ll get there with practice.

I fish saltwater as much as I fish for bass so I get my share of battles. In comparison, getting a bite and hooking up in saltwater is easy! so.... I enjoy the heck out of making bass bite and then successfully hooking them with the fight being the last part of the fun.

I am similar. I often buy duplicates thinking I need them and then stash them in a bin to only find I have plenty or the reverse and forget to pick up a bait or color I actually wanted. To help with this and on the water confusion, I finally broke down and bought some peg board today. I am convinced that everything I have on my boat and my bins in my garage are worthless because I do not know my inventory. As I’ve become more experienced, I know what lures / baits work at different times of the year and what colors I should be using depending on water conditions so I am setting up my shop in my basement to be my tackle store. Before every trip, I’ll walk into that room, select the lures and baits I intend to use for the trip and conditions ahead and that is it. I’m sure I’ll kick myself in the butt, wishing I had brought along “X” on some trips but I’d rather continue learning that way instead of having too many choices that make me abandon ship too quickly.

My 2 local stores have been downsizing their fishing and hunting for a few months now. Sucks because the only other store we had (French Creek Outfitters if you’re in SE Pa) is closing their doors as well. Pretty much leaves me with a poor selection at Walmart or an hour trip to Cabelas.

I have built and repaired a fair share of rods and to me, it looks like a tip top that was put on crooked and then fixed, after it arrived at the store, lousily. Most likely from someone heating up the tip top to align it and in the process, they cracked the flex coat twisting the tip top. I’ve seen this on TFO’s and St Croix while on store racks so while lousy, it does happen. It’s an easy fix to be honest, some tip top glue (to make sure the job is done correctly, other than relying on how it sits) and flex coat and you would never know. However, I would send it back and have the retailer send me a new one. We don’t spend our hard earned money to fix other people’s mistakes.

Agreed and Agreed. Just curious to see if anyone has actually tried this method and what results they have had.

I was watching a Roland Martin program this past week and he showed an interesting to me hooking method for a Senko. Basically two Octopus Style hooks back to back going through a Senko. He said it was to prevent snags. I thought it kind of gimmicky to be honest and just a way to now lose 2 hooks each time I snag. Lol. Has anyone tried this with any success? Here’s a pic of a rig I made to duplicate / show what he did.

Good topic to see if anyone else has my affliction. I catch rocks all the time. No joke here, I’m not talking snags, I literally reel in rocks any time I go spin fishing in streams. In 30 years of fishing with friends, I’ve never seen anyone do that but me, it makes no sense. I’m good for 1 about every 3rd outing. Anywhere from golf ball size to about double a golf ball size. It makes me and my friends laugh every time.

I use a website called usprimetimes.com mostly for hunting but I do use it as an excuse with the wife to say “I have to go! It’s the best day of the month!” In all seriousness though, I have to give it credit when it comes to deer hunting, in the predicted good days and times, there does seem to be more movement. As for fish??? I can’t validate it one way or the other.

They drop my “home” lake if you will every year. It’s is a great time to go site seeing and mark the heck out of your finder.

I always have a wacky rig setup and a Ned rig setup ready to go. Mostly because they are confidence baits and I’ve caught many using those methods. Wacky rig however is a great follow up to something you may have missed on another bait and you want to take the last shot.

I’ve always been a spin rod angler so one day I bought a cheap combo from Dicks to see what bait casting was all about. I liked it but it was cheap and gave me headaches. I was still a little apprehensive but I went ahead and bought the Curado DC and a nice rod. Absolutely loved it and it got me over my learning curve. I’ve seen bought an SLX on another rod setup (not DC) and I do very well with that reel as well. In short, it helped me over the learning curve. I’ll never buy one again, there just isn’t a reason at this point IMO.